Sumy

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Created: 03 December 2015

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Sumy is located in north-eastern Ukraine, on the Psel river. With a population of 283,700, it is the administrative, economic and cultural center of the Sumy region. The city of Sumy is 350 km distant from Kiev and 200 km from Kharkiv and Poltava. Supportive of European integration, it has been awarded in April 2013 the "European diploma" by the Council of Europe for its efforts in this direction.

Indeed, Sumy has developed twinnings with Gorzów Wielkopolski and Lublin in Poland, Celle in Germany, Vratsa in Bulgaria, Wohlen in Switzerland and is willing to engage in new partnerships with other cities located in the European Union. Among the most recent projects, Sumy has been closely cooperating with Lublin over the preparation of a Strategic Plan for the city of Sumy to 2025 and its branding.

Smart Sumy

In Ukraine, Sumy is recognized as one of the main centers of higher education. Its 28,879-student population is divided in particular between:

Sumy State University;

Ukrainian Academy of Banking – directly managed by the National Bank of Ukraine, it is theonly higher education institution of this type in Ukraine;

Sumy State Pedagogical University A.S. Makarenko;

Sumy National Agrarian University;

Sumy branch office of Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs;

Institute of Applied Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

In addition, Sumy counts 44 schools (primary and secondary) where English, German andFrench languages are taught.

Potential fields of cooperation:

advanced training for local government officials, exchange of best practices

student and academic exchanges

Presence of foreign investment

Measured in stock, foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2014 amounted to 197.7 million USD in the city of Sumyand to 292.6 million in the region. They are mostly present in the mechanical engineering, chemical and foodindustries with companies such as:

exchange of good practices in the realms of housing and municipal economy

realization of projects in the realms of energy efficiency and environmental protection

participation in programs of international technical assistance

Culture

Sumy is also a city of culture, well appreciated by the famous writer Anton Chekhov who came several times there for holidays. Thecestate where he used to stay has been in the meantime turned into a museum. A festival of Chekhov's plays is held every year in thecity in November.

Other important cultural institutions in Sumy are:

the Museum of Fine Arts, opened in 1920 with collections belonging among others to the Polish engineer and philanthropist OscarHansen. It is still nowadays one of the most outstanding arts centers in Ukraine and it contains unique paintings and works of appliedarts;